Just Stop
by VibeQuake
Summary: Five years after the truth came out, everyone has moved on. Only one person remains deeply affected, and he knows it's because he will never let himself forget the pain he caused. He will never hurt anyone else ever again, apart from himself. And he doesn't care if it kills him. Because he knows he doesn't even deserve life. Sequel to British Organisation Without A Cool Acronym.
1. Pain

**Obviously, this story contains major spoilers for British Organisation Without A Cool Acronym. Don't read this unless you've finished that.**

 **…**

Alone in his cubicle, James Williams cursed as his hand slipped, knocking his plastic cup of water onto the floor. Ignoring the growing water stain on the floor, James swallowed and looked down at his violently shaking hands. He slowly clenched them into fists, but that just made them shake harder, so he opened them out again, tipped his head back, and sighed sadly.

Then he quickly straightened up.

 _No, James. You're not allowed to do this. You have to let the pain envelop you, like you've been doing for five years. You don't deserve help._

It was these kinds of poisonous thoughts that had been ruling James's head for the last five years. And he had let them. After what he had done, he knew he didn't deserve anything better.

He had been avoiding everyone who had been involved in the incident five years ago. Ruth, Robin, Zero, Ferb, Gretchen. Especially the two people he had scarred the most.

Stephen Bush.

And Esther van Dyke.

He had had a few exchanges with Esther over the years, but he hadn't spoken to Stephen since that day. Every time it looked like they were about to meet in the corridor, he always either turned around or went a different way. Once, Stephan had called his name. Not wanting to hurt Stephen any more, James hadn't replied.

It was getting increasingly harder to avoid his former friends. Since Ruth had now been promoted to deputy of the entire organisation, she was everywhere. But Ruth, along with Ferb and Gretchen, was one of the very few people to forgive him completely. But he didn't hold that very highly; he hadn't hurt them like he had the others.

Leaving the mess in his office, James stumbled out into the corridor and awkwardly stood up straight as two agents' heads turned to face him. He exhaled and forced himself to smile at them. Nobody else knew about his betrayal. He looked weak enough as it was; poor James Williams, no longer on B.O.W.C.A.'s top ten list, no friends, never out on missions.

All three of those parts were true. Since he never went out on missions anymore, several agents had surpassed him in skill until he was barely on B.O.W.C.A.'s top TWENTY list. And he had alienated himself to the point of having no friends. None of his former friends, and certainly no new friends. He wouldn't be able to bear it if he hurt someone else the way he had hurt Esther, Stephen, and Robin.

Speaking of Robin…

"James?"

James's head jerked up and he found himself looking into the frowning face of Maria "Robin" Robinson. Her facial injuries had long since faded, but James could still almost see the massive bruise covering most of the left side of her face.

The bruise HE had inflicted on her.

James's mouth opened and closed but no sound came out. He hung his head so that he didn't have to look at Robin anymore, but, remembering his vow to make himself feel all the pain, forced himself to look back up at her. "I was just leaving, Maria," he told her, his voice croaky.

Had it really been so long since he last used his voice?

Robin's frown deepened. "James, nobody calls me Maria. Not even my own parents. Please come back to us. We miss you."

James squeezed his eyes shut and lifted his chin. "I was just leaving," he repeated dully, opening his eyes to look her in the eye. "If you wish to talk, you will have to find someone who will not assault you."

Robin's frown melted into a concerned grimace. "Is that what this is about?"

"It's not about anything, Maria. Goodbye." Expertly holding back tears, James moved past Robin and walked normally down the corridor. Nobody even gave him a glance as he reached the door to the stairwell.

As he placed his hand on the door to push it open, he felt a sharp pain shoot through his chest. He winced and pressed his other hand against his chest to try and suppress the pain. Normally he would let himself feel it, but people were nearby.

Unfortunately, just as he managed to open the door, he found someone else on the other side.

"Oh!" Gretchen Fletcher flinched and stepped back, jiggling the little bundle in her arms.

James swallowed nervously and moved back to allow Gretchen to come through. However, Gretchen didn't move. She put on a friendly smile. "James, hello. How are you?"

James didn't reply. Instead, he dropped his gaze and bit the corner of his lip, hoping Gretchen wouldn't say anything else to him.

Luckily, she didn't. She awkwardly came through the door and passed James on her way towards her office. As she did, James caught a glimpse of the seven-month-old baby in Gretchen's arms. It was the first James had seen of little Lydia Fletcher, the daughter of Gretchen and Ferb Fletcher. He had overheard Ferb telling many stories in the staffroom about his beautiful daughter, and he knew that Gretchen brought little Lydia into the office most days now, but he had never actually seen the baby for himself. And he hadn't wanted to. He didn't even deserve to.

Finally, James reached the front door. Pushing it open, he strode out into the cold. Being midwinter, an eighteen-inch blanket of snow was on the ground, and James immediately shivered, regretting coming outside in just his jeans and hoodie.

He never wore suits anymore. The suit with the bullet hole and bloodstains was hanging up in his wardrobe at home, gathering dust with his five other suits. He just wore the same jeans, T-shirt, and hoodie for a week, then washed it over Sunday, when he didn't have to work. Inspector Initials hadn't seemed to notice his new wardrobe, but even if she had, she didn't seem to care.

When he got home, he was frozen. But he wasn't making any effort to protect himself from the cold. It was just more pain for him to bear. He took off his hoodie, flung it onto his bed, went into the bathroom, and ran a bath. He allowed himself the luxury of warm water, but not hot, the way he used to like it.

Lying in the warm water was the best he had felt in a long time. Lying there, with the warmth enveloping him… It was a pleasant change from pain.

He only allowed himself brief breaks like this. His home was his safe haven. It was the only time he allowed himself to be safe…warm…happy.

Well, not happy. Just not depressed. He hadn't been happy for many years, since before Truth Day, as he knew it as. `

And he knew he would never be happy again.


	2. New Hope And Dashed Hope

The next day, James came back into work like usual. He wasn't looking where he was going so, as he approached the front door, he bumped into someone. He stumbled back and croaked, "I'm sorry. I wasn't looking where I-."

He broke off as he looked properly at the person he had bumped into. It was a woman, about his age. One he had never seen before.

And she was beautiful.

She had shoulder-length brown hair that looked well taken care of. She wore a knee-length, sleeveless beige dress. She had three tattoos: one of a red rose on her cheek, one of a twisty vine all up her right leg, and another of a dagger on her right shoulder. At the point of the dagger was an obvious scar. The tattoo was arranged so that it looked like the dagger was piercing her skin where the scar was. James couldn't stop staring at it.

Then the woman clicked in front of his face. "Hello? You okay?"

James blinked a few times and stood up straight. "I-I'm sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going. I really like your tattoos."

The woman's face lit up in a radiant smile. "Really?"

"Yeah. Don't people tell you that all the time?"

"Nah." The woman shrugged helplessly. "People tell me I shouldn't get so many tattoos. Especially this one." She tapped her shoulder. "They say I shouldn't have "romanticized" something so ugly."

"Scars aren't ugly," James found himself saying. "Scars are reminders that you've survived something big, maybe something that you shouldn't have survived."

"Yeah, that's right." The woman smiled. "Do you have a scar too?"

James swallowed and looked down at the ground. The woman's smile disappeared. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to pry."

"I think I should go," James croaked, unpleasant memories flooding back.

"Wait!" The woman caught his wrist as he began moving off. "Could I at least know your name?"

"I…" James was about to refuse, but he figured that giving this beautiful woman his name couldn't do much harm. "James Williams."

"My name is Natasha Hunt," the woman said, the smile flickering back onto her face. "Will I see you again?"

"Um…maybe." James shook his head quickly. "I'm sorry; I have to go."

He pulled his wrist out of Natasha's grip and rushed inside, not looking back. He didn't stop until he reached his office. Diving inside and shutting the door, James curled up on the floor, expecting a panic attack.

It never came.

Instead of the awful memories behind the scar on his chest, the only thing in his mind was the image of Natasha's face. He hadn't looked at her face for more than a minute total, and yet he could see every detail: the freckles around her nose and under her eyes, the rose tattoo on her cheek, her beautiful hazel eyes, the red lipstick she was wearing, and her perfectly curled eyelashes.

Why was he so obsessed with her? Was it love? It couldn't be, could it? He had known her for five minutes, after all.

And yet, they had just… _clicked._ He had been able to chat easily with her. For a moment, it had been like he was chatting with Esther again.

Thinking about Esther caused his chest to ache. A few seconds after, his stomach began to ache. And he realised that he hadn't eaten anything. When was the last time he had eaten? He couldn't remember. The last thing he remembered eating was that meal of fish fingers and chips that he had bought from a vendor near his apartment. That was Monday; today was Friday. He couldn't have gone _four days_ without food, could he?

Coughing quietly, James got up off the floor and stood on shaky legs. He had to find something to eat. There was a fine line between punishment and torture, and he knew which way starvation fell.

As he stumbled out of his office, he bumped into someone. Through his darkening vision, he was horrified to see the concerned face of Esther van Dyke. He backed away automatically and bumped into a printer. "James," Esther said hurriedly, her voice sounding distant. "James, are you okay?"

James nodded quickly. "I'm fine. Excuse me."

He turned and tried to make a quick exit, but Esther caught his hand. "James, please wait."

James stopped dead. His heart almost stopped too. He hadn't made contact with Esther in years. The last time he had touched her…was when he had pushed her out the way of a bullet.

"Please let go of me," James croaked, before clearing his throat. "I need to leave."

"James, stop isolating yourself!" Esther begged, tears springing to her eyes. "We miss you!"

Just as James was about to reply, Esther let out a small gasp and her free hand flew to her stomach. That was when James noticed it was ever so slightly rounded.

"Esther…!" James swallowed. "Are you…?"

Esther bit the corner of her lip. "Yes."

"I thought you…I thought you were…?"

"Infertile." Esther nodded slowly. "So did I. But…it turned out to be a misdiagnosis."

James hesitated. Most of him was screaming at him for holding a conversation with the woman whose first husband's death he caused, but too much of him was curious about how she was doing. "How far along?"

"Four months," Esther replied softly. "James…" She hesitated. "Zero and I…were hoping you would be our baby's godfather."

James's world began spinning. His stomach seemed to drop even more. He pulled away from Esther and stumbled back a few steps, his head pounding.

"James?" Esther's voice sounded even more distant.

"I can't."

James didn't know if the words had even come out. All he knew is that, as soon as he managed to squeak them out, he fled. He heard Esther call his name, but he ignored her. He kept running, past the agents staring at him and gossiping, and into the only private place in the entire building: the basement. Nobody had any reason to go down there, and it was large enough that even if someone did go down there, they wouldn't be able to find him.

He continued running until he reached a small, dark nook. He curled up in a ball on the floor and cried.

He couldn't be a godfather. He didn't deserve such an honour. It was bad enough that he had actually held a conversation with Esther; now he was actually considering letting himself be a godfather. He knew he couldn't do it.

He couldn't allow himself the honour.


	3. I Don't Hate Him

Esther went straight to Stephen's office, trying to stop herself from going into a crying fit. Seeing James react that way had almost killed her. The only reason she was forcing herself to keep it together was for the sake of the baby.

She knocked on the door once, and Stephen's eleven-year-old daughter opened it. She beamed. "Hi, Aunt Esther!"

"Hello, Rosie. Is your father in?"

"Yeah, Daddy's in." Rosie smiled. "I need to go now, though. Aunt Robin's offered to take me to the park."

"That's great." Esther smiled back. She allowed Rosie to pass her, then she went into the office.

Stephen Bush spun in his chair and smiled at her. "Hey, Esther. How's the baby?"

"Kicking," Esther quipped. "Stephen, I…I finally got to talk to James today."

Stephen stiffened at the mention of James's name. "And?"

"I went too far," Esther whispered, tears filling her eyes. "I shouldn't have told him about the baby. He p-panicked and ran away!"

Concern in his eyes, Stephen slowly stood up, reached out, and brought Esther into a comforting hug. "It wasn't your fault."

"I know you hate him, but I want him to be the baby's godfather!" Esther wailed. "He's still my best friend!"

"I don't…I don't hate him," Stephen said awkwardly. "Do you want me to talk to him?"

"It won't help. Oh, Stephen! What if he hates me now?!"

Esther burst into tears, to Stephen's embarrassment. He didn't know how to deal with crying women, especially pregnant crying women. He didn't know how upset Esther was. Was she really as upset as she appeared, or was it the pregnancy hormones making it appear worse than it was?

"He won't hate you," Stephen said softly. "Let me talk to him."

"NO!" Esther snapped. "You'll make it worse!"

Stung, Stephen released Esther and stepped back. "Es? What do you mean?"

"You HATE him!" Esther sobbed, covering her face with her hands. "Don't try and deny it! You're the only one who hasn't spoken to him in five years!"

"I do NOT hate him!" Stephen snapped back. "I said I wouldn't forgive him for traumatising Rosie and causing me amnesia. Rosie hasn't shown any signs of even remembering what happened to her five years ago, let alone being affected by it. And my amnesia is practically gone already. I DON'T hate him, Esther. I just need to talk to him."

"We've already lost him, Stephen." Esther swallowed. "You didn't see how he looked. Even before I told him about my pregnancy, it was like he was a ghost. He was pale, sweaty, and he almost ran away from me. It…It was horrible, Stephen."

"I know." Stephen hesitated, before bringing Esther back into a hug. "Has Zero talked to him?"

"He hasn't even seen James in a while. We think…We think he's avoiding all of us. Ruth and Ferb haven't seen him, Robin and Gretchen had very brief conversations with him, and Zero and I…" She trailed off, unable to finish her thought.

"We all isolated him in the months after Truth Day," Stephen said softly. "We should have been supporting him. After all, he's not evil. He did a bad thing but he regrets it AND his intentions weren't evil. We should have been there to help him, but instead, we pushed him away."

Esther paused, cogs whirring through her brain. "What's James's middle name?"

Stephen blinked, surprised by this sudden change of subject. "I think it's Charles."

"Then it's decided." Esther put on a weak smile. "The baby's name will be Charlie. It's a gender-neutral name. We'll just spell it with an 'ey' instead of an 'ie' if it's a girl."

"I know Zero will agree," Stephen said, smiling back. "That's an amazing idea, Esther."

"We can't give up on him," Esther said fiercely. "I WON'T give up on him."

"I know you won't."

Esther took a deep breath, and stepped back. "We have two new agents joining us today," she said. "They're twin siblings: Natasha and Cameron Hunt. Natasha is a psychologist, and Cameron is an engineer."

"Pretty unusual for Inspector Initials," Stephen commented. "She normally only takes in new field recruits."

"I guess she's changing that. I've had the pleasure of meeting Cameron, and let me tell you something: he's an asshole."

Stephen's eyebrows rose. "Really? Why?"

"He was cantankerous and obnoxious," Esther sighed. "And he called me fat."

"What?!"

"Okay, not outright." Esther shrugged. "But he did stare at my stomach for a good few seconds."

Stephen relaxed. "And Natasha?"

"Haven't met her yet. Ruth got her settled into her lab upstairs; I'm supposed to go and check on her soon. Will you come with me?"

Stephen hesitated, formulating an idea in his mind. "Would you like me to do it instead of you?"

Esther blinked, surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah. You look tired; you should probably get some rest. You've been on your feet all day."

"That's really kind of you. She's been set up in the empty lab upstairs; you should know it when you see it. Thanks, Stephen."

"No problem."

Stephen watched Esther leave, then sat back down in his chair, letting out a long breath.

He didn't hate James. For a few years, he believed he did. But what he told Esther was the truth: Rosie barely even remembered the incident, and his memory was getting better. Those were the only two things he blamed James for, and while he still did blame James for them, he didn't hate the man anymore. In fact, he felt sorry for him. Stephen valued friends and family above all else, and he hated himself for the way he had isolated James, who no longer had any friends or family to help him through such a difficult time. Stephen had vowed never to abandon a friend in a time of need…

…but he had done exactly that.

Standing up again, Stephen left the office, heading upstairs. He was going to check on Natasha, then ask her to come and find James with him. With any luck, a fresh face would help. Maybe she and James would even become friends.

He had no idea that the two of them had already met.


	4. The Brother

James didn't know how long he was in the basement for. It was only when he woke up on the floor that he realised he had fallen asleep. His throat and chest felt tight as he gripped the wall and lifted himself to his feet. His eyes were still wet from crying, so he knew he couldn't have been down there very long. He breathed in and out a few times, before heading to the door.

As soon as he got up the stairs, he bumped into Stephen Bush and Natasha Hunt. They were such an unlikely pair that he had to blink a few times to register it properly.

"James, there you are!" Stephen looked generally worried. "Are you okay? We've been looking everywhere for you."

James frowned. "Why? Why would you be concerned about me?"

"Why…?" Stephen also frowned. "Because you're my friend, James."

"Don't give me that!" James snapped at him. "We're NOT friends!"

Stephen stepped back, taken aback. "James-."

"Just stay away from me!" James yelled. As Stephen worriedly stepped closer, James backed away. "I said stay away!"

"James!" Stephen yelped.

But before Stephen could say anything else, James turned and ran away from him. Stephen yelled James's name again, to no avail. Breathing out shakily, Stephen turned to Natasha, who looked both horrified and confused at what she had just witnessed.

"Does he think we're together?" she asked softly. "Is that why he reacted like that?"

Stephen shook his head quickly. "No, Natasha. He just… He's being plagued by something bad he did a long time ago. It recently came to the surface and now he's isolated himself from his friends because he thinks he betrayed them."

"And…did he?"

Stephen hesitated, remembering the pain of being pinned between the wall and the heavy filing cabinet that James had kicked at him, his last sight of James dragging his desperately screaming daughter away.

"No," Stephen replied firmly, after a few seconds. "He didn't."

Natasha hesitated. "Did he do something to you? Personally?"

"Yes."

Stephen had spoken automatically. Why shouldn't he have? It was the truth. But the important question was: did Stephen really still hate James for it? He had reassured Esther that he didn't, but it was tough to know for certain. After all, no parent would find it easy to forgive someone for putting their child in danger. But it had been five years…

"But it's okay," Stephen added before Natasha could speak. "Everyone I've talked to has forgiven him. He just needs to forgive himself."

Natasha hesitated again, her heart aching for this poor man. At the same time, this entire situation sounded familiar. After the incident behind her scar, she herself had shut herself off from the world out of guilt. She hadn't even let her twin brother talk to her. This seemed similar, and now Natasha knew how to help.

"I'll talk to him," she decided. "I can help."

Stephen glanced at her in surprise. "What makes you so sure?"

"Just trust me, Stephen." Natasha smiled confidently. "I'm the best person to help him right now. Just tell me where I can find him."

…

James didn't go back to his office. He felt so shaken by his encounter with Stephen that the only safe place he could think of was the psychiatrist's office.

The psychiatrist's name was David Williams, and he was James's younger brother. James had joined B.O.W.C.A. when he was eighteen, straight out of secondary school, but David had gone on to study psychology at university. Only after David had obtained his degree did he join B.O.W.C.A. after his brother. In addition to his job as B.O.W.C.A.'s psychiatrist, he was also in the middle of studying for his doctorate.

As James rushed into the room and straight into the consultancy room, David stood sharply up from behind his desk. He was used to this, though it had stopped happening as frequently in the last few years.

Of course he had heard about the incident five years ago. David had only just started work there and had been evacuated very quickly. The possibility that James hadn't made it out hadn't even occurred to David at the time. He had just been focusing on getting through his agoraphobia, a fact that still made him feel guilty all these years later. He had been so focused on himself that he had never even thought about his beloved brother. He could rectify that now.

"James," David called softly, slowly moving round to the door of the consultancy room. "James, are you okay?"

His heart sank as he saw his big brother lying on the rather thin windowsill, staring out the window.

 _James…_

David hesitated at the door. He didn't want to disturb James, since his brother was clearly not having a panic attack or in any danger of hurting himself. Murmuring, "Call me if you need me,", David backed away and quietly closed the door.

That was when a pretty, young woman arrived. David had never seen her before, but she somehow seemed to belong in the room. "Is James in there?" she asked, pointing to the room.

David nodded slowly. "You know my brother?"

"James has a brother?" The woman nodded slowly. "Yeah, I do. I'm Natasha Hunt."

"David Williams." The young psychologist reached out and shook her hand. "I'm James's brother. I don't know how much good it'll do, but are you here to talk to him?"

Natasha nodded again. "Yeah. I have an idea."

David sighed slowly. "Good luck. I really hope you can help him."

"So do I."

With that, Natasha turned the handle and opened the door.


	5. Zero's Mission

Agent Zero, formerly known as Agent Double 0-0, was out on a mission for the first time since receiving the news that Esther was pregnant, after living several years with an infertility diagnosis. After her previous miscarriage, Zero didn't want to risk anything happening to either Esther or their baby. He knew he couldn't lose Esther. His wife had reassured him that nothing was going to happen, but Zero still worried.

Dressed in his signature suit, Zero paused outside the enormous mansion. He drew his gun in readiness and took a few seconds to make sure that everything on the gun was working and/or properly secure. Last time he came out on a mission, the magazine had been unclipped when he had tried to fire on a bad guy, causing the aforementioned bad guy to score a shot on Zero's shoulder. Luckily, it had only been a flesh wound.

Zero burst through the doors and into the dark, empty foyer. The only sound was the noise of the doors recovering from being broken open. Considering this was supposed to be a hive of gang activity, Zero had a feeling that something was not right.

All of a sudden, Zero heard a tiny click sound. He whirled round in time to see a tiny projectile coming flying towards him. He had no time to identify it. He only managed to stumble back to dodge it, but he tripped over his own heel and fell backwards. He hit his head on the floor and blacked out immediately.

He was woken abruptly an unknown amount of time later by a slap to the face and a bucket of cold water being dumped over his face. Spluttering, he jerked into a sitting position.

"I never pegged you for an amateur, Zero," came an amused voice from in front of him.

Zero groaned. Even with his eyes closed, he could identify the person with him.

Or rather…the ANIMAL with him.

"Shut up, Perry," he snapped. "What are you even doing here?"

Opening his eyes, he saw the smirk on the teal platypus's face very clearly. "Vacation."

"Don't insult me any more than you already have, Beaver Tail," Zero huffed. "What are you really doing here?"

Perry's smirk did not vanish, though he did look ever so slightly annoyed at the nickname. "First of all, calling me Beaver Tail is like me calling you Bigfoot. Second of all, I'm not trying to insult you. I really am here on vacation. It just so happened that Inspector Initials caught wind of my vacation and asked me to come and assist you."

"I don't need assistance."

Perry snorted. "Right. And you didn't just trip over your own feet."

"Shut up," Zero snapped again. "If you're going to stay, then you'd better stay out of my way."

"Why don't you keep your feet out of each other's way?" suggested Perry snidely.

Zero pushed himself to his feet and glared down at the platypus. "I wish I could kick your butt right now, but frankly, I'm scared of your poisonous ankle barbs and I don't want to die before my kid is born."

Perry's entire face changed. "You're having a kid? Did you finally marry Esther?"

His face turning a light shade of red, Zero muttered, "Yeah I did. But can we discuss this AFTER the mission?"

"Yeah, good idea. Stay behind me, 'kay?"

Zero glared at Perry. "Sure. But you'd better watch your back because I've thrown a small animal out of a closed window before, and I'm not afraid to do it again."

Perry regarded Zero with a raised eyebrow. "Frankly, I'm scared to ask. You ready?"

"Yeah, yeah."

Reluctantly, Zero allowed Perry to go first. They slowly edged up the stairs, expecting anything and everything. Zero's head was still hurting from his injury, but he had to work past it in order to help Perry do this.

It irked him that the platypus had shown up on HIS mission, but part of him was glad to see the animal agent. Despite their rivalry, Zero and Perry were actually good friends. However, Zero had forgotten to invite Perry to his wedding, and Perry now knew that fact. It made Zero's chest ache to think that he had forgotten one of his greatest friends.

"So you didn't invite me to your wedding," Perry said suddenly.

"Can we talk about this later?" snapped Zero.

"Okay."

Zero found it surprising that Perry had dropped the conversation so readily. He guessed it was because even Perry knew that multi-tasking like that on a mission such as this one was too hard to attempt.

Zero suddenly stopped as he felt the old wooden floorboard creak under his foot. He tested its strength quickly, then called softly, "Wait."

Perry, who had continued walking, also stopped and looked back at Zero. "What?"

Zero briefly wondered if he was making a mountain out of a molehill with this, but he dismissed the thoughts. "This is a trap," he stated. "I'm sure of it. I mean, this place is too quiet. Plus there's that…thing."

"Thing?"

"In the foyer. The thing that made me…" He trailed off and sighed, before continuing through gritted teeth: "…that made me trip over my own feet. It only happened because something was flying at me. That wasn't natural. I think…I think something big is up ahead."

Perry paused, taking all this in. "I agree," he replied eventually. "How do you want to proceed?"

Zero blinked. "You're asking me?"

"It's YOUR mission."

"So you DO remember that."

Perry rolled his eyes. "What do you want to do?"

Zero hesitated. He still hadn't taken his foot off the floorboard. Something told him that he shouldn't. But…why?

"Zero…?"

As Zero opened his mouth to reply, he suddenly felt the floor give way underneath his foot. As a large hole opened up beneath him, he began falling. Perry reacted quickly and rushed forwards. The little platypus's paws found Zero's right hand, and pulled. Zero stopped falling, but almost his entire body was dangling through the hole.

And underneath him?

A ninety foot drop.

"How the hell?!" Perry shrieked.

"Looks like these guys have been digging underground," Zero observed.

Swinging his left hand up to grab the broken floor beside Perry, Zero glanced down at his useless legs.

"Zero, I'm not strong enough to pull you up!" Perry gasped out.

"Then let me go," Zero said softly.

"Not an option," Perry countered fiercely. "There has to be something…"

"Perry, either I fall or we BOTH fall!" snapped Zero. "Which would you prefer, huh?!"

Perry hesitated. "If those are the only two options…then both."

With that, he relaxed his knee muscles, causing James's weight to pull both of them down through the hole.


	6. We're Going To The Zoo

As Natasha entered the room, she spotted James sitting underneath the windowsill, legs drawn into his chest. He looked up at her as she came in, his eyes gaunt and lifeless. He made no attempt to move or speak-choosing only to rest his forehead on his knees.

Natasha approached James and stopped when she was a respectful distance away. She held out her hand to him. "Come with me."

James looked back up at her, frowning slightly. "Where?"

A playful smile spread over Natasha's face. "On an adventure."

James didn't feel like doing anything much at the moment, but Natasha's cryptic proposition intrigued him. His curiosity finally overcame his misery, and he accepted Natasha's hand. The agent gently pulled James to his feet, then, not letting go of his hand, led him quickly out of the consultancy room. James only had time to exchange a bemused look with his brother before Natasha had dragged him out of the counsellor's office and down the hall.

B.O.W.C.A.'s headquarters were in the centre of London for easy access to basically every place in London via the underground tube station. James had brought no belongings with him, so he felt a little awkward when Natasha dragged him onto the underground train. They sat down on seats next to each other, both looking in opposite directions.

"What are we doing?" James asked awkwardly. "You didn't have to buy a ticket for me."

"You need this," Natasha said firmly. "I'm not short of money anyway, but even if I was, I'd still do it. You need this."

"Need what? Where are we going?"

"Just look for Camden Town Station."

James froze. Camden Town Station? That meant...there was only one place they could be going, and James had no idea how to feel about it.

Sure enough, a short walk away from Camden Town Station later, they arrived at London Zoo.

Looking up at the gate, James felt something stir inside him. Memories flooded his head: Lily crying when a monkey snatched her ice cream, David "chatting" with the parrots, James feeding peanuts to an elephant, Lily and James racing each other to the penguin show and then melting as they watched the adorable birds, and finally, each of them getting a soft animal toy from the gift shop. David got a parrot, Lily got a penguin, and James got a lion.

"You okay, James?" Natasha asked, breaking him out of his memories.

"We're going to the zoo?" James whispered.

"Yeah. Do you...not want to?"

James shook his head quickly. "It's not that. It's just...I haven't been here since I was eight years old."

"I used to come all the time," Natasha said, smiling. "With my twin brother and our parents."

James paused. "Promise me one thing."

"Okay. What?"

A small smile spread slowly over James's face. "Promise you won't judge me when I squeal over how cute the penguins are."

"Oh, trust me, I'll be squealing with you," laughed Natasha.

Once they had bought their tickets, they headed over to the map of the zoo. "Where do you want to go first?" James asked.

"Completely up to you," replied Natasha. "All I want to do is the penguin show. There's one thing I don't like, though, and that's the insects and reptiles exhibit."

"Oh, really? Not a fan of snakes, then?"

"Arachnophobe and ophidiophobe here." Natasha grinned. "You?"

"I can handle spiders and snakes, but butterflies freak me out," James replied, slightly embarrassed. "I don't know why."

"I don't like insects at all, so we're even," Natasha chuckled. "How about we start by seeing that new baby giraffe that was born two months ago?"

"There's a baby giraffe?!" James gasped. "I love baby animals!" He suddenly blushed. "Sorry...that's childish, isn't it?"

James had spent his whole life hearing how liking cute and baby animals was childish and "girly", a phrase that James hated.

"No, not at all. I'd rather date a man who loves baby animals than a man who hates them," said Natasha.

James was caught out by the word "date". Natasha didn't seem to pick up on that. She grabbed his hand and began dragging him off in the direction of the giraffe enclosure.

When they got there, James gasped audibly at the sight of the six giraffes in the enclosure. Four of them were adults, one looked like a juvenile-not a baby but not quite an adult either-and the last one...the last one was a tiny baby sitting underneath its mother, watching the humans who were staring at it.

"Adorable," breathed James. "Is it a girl or a boy?"

Natasha sidled over to the information plaque and studied it. "It's a girl. Apparently her name is Nyota, which is Swahili for 'star'."

"She's gorgeous." James beamed. "I want one."

"Don't we all," laughed Natasha. "Looks like there's a feeding event coming up at two. We can feed the giraffes and maybe even bottle-feed little Nyota!"

James almost stopped breathing. "Okay, I need to do that. Or else I may suffocate."

Natasha laughed again. "We don't want that, now, do we?"

"I'd hope not. But since we've got two and a half hours until that, and four hours until the penguin talk, what do you want to do now?"

"Hmm." Natasha thought for a moment. "You hungry?"

James hesitated. He WAS hungry...but he didn't want to allow himself the luxury of eating. He was stretching it big time just by being at the zoo.

"No," he lied.

"Yes you are. Come on, there's a cafe near the entrance."

"I'm...fasting," James lied again.

"No you're not." Natasha frowned. "James...is there a reason you don't want to eat?"

James sighed. "If you'd known me five years ago, you'd know why."

"Are you really feeling so guilty over your so-called betrayal that you're gonna starve yourself to death?"

James blinked. He didn't know whether he was more shocked that Natasha knew about the incident five years ago or the fact that she had called it his "so-called betrayal".

"First of all, it WAS a betrayal, not a "so-called" anything. And second-."

"Your friends forgive you," interrupted Natasha. "Stephen talked to me."

"Yeah, well, Stephen's way of thinking his warped," James said coldly.

"I think the only one at B.O.W.C.A. with warped thinking is you," Natasha said softly.

James didn't know what to say to that. He bowed his head, avoiding Natasha's gaze.

The B.O.W.C.A. agent reached out and took his hand. She lifted her other hand and gently tilted his chin up until they were making eye contact.

"If you don't want to eat, I won't force you to," she said quietly. "But on one condition."

James hesitated. "What...?"

"Take me out on a date."

That was not what James was expecting. Although the only thing he wanted was to take Natasha out somewhere she deserved, he couldn't do it. That would be a luxury. But at the same time...if he refused now, he may not get another chance to go out with her. She was a very good match for him, and part of him hoped they would be able to develop a relationship.

"Well?" Natasha asked. "You don't have to do it, though. I won't force you."

"I want to," James blurted out. "What are you interested in?"

Natasha considered this. "I like Formula 1 racing. I like most sports. I like being outdoors. I like animals. Can you work with that?"

A plan was already formulating in James's mind without him meaning it to. "Yes, yes I believe I can."

Natasha hesitated. "I...I'm looking forward to this. Are you sure you don't mind?"

"No, no. It would be my pleasure."

A shy smile slowly spread over Natasha's face, and in that moment, she appeared even more beautiful than she was before.

James knew he had made the right choice.

"Come on," he said. "Let's go see the lions."

"Now we're talking."


	7. Cameron

Cameron Hunt had only been at B.O.W.C.A. for approximately three hours but he had already befriended Maria Robinson, flirted with Ruth Summers and been subsequently shut down, and made an enemy out of an agent whose name he didn't even know. He had also discovered a smashed-up printer on the third floor, which he was now fixing.

Being an engineer, Cameron loved tinkering. His favourite pastime was taking things completely apart and then putting them back together again, which was basically what he was doing to this printer. In order to find out how to fix it, he first had to find out how it worked.

"What exactly are you doing?" came a male voice.

Cameron looked up. He was currently lying on his back, disassembling the photocopier part of the device. "Fixing…?" he offered weakly, holding up his screwdriver.

The green-haired man standing there blinked. "Really? You are?"

Cameron nodded. "I AM a professional, even if it doesn't look like I am."

"No, I believe you." The guy smiled. "I'm Ferb Fletcher."

"Cameron Hunt. I'm new."

"Oh, yes. I remember Ruth saying something about new agents. Natasha Hunt is your sister, right?"

"My twin sister, yeah. I'm an engineer, she's a psychologist. The science of machines and the science of people."

Ferb chuckled. "So you're trying to fix up the printer?"

"Yeah. What exactly happened to it, anyway?"

"That's up for debate. There was an incident five years ago, involving an elaborate wind machine and a device that caused massive earthquakes. Nobody was killed or seriously hurt, but the place was wrecked. My theory is that either someone accidentally fell or bumped into it, or the wind or earthquakes caused something else to fall onto it."

"Whoa." Cameron blinked. "And nobody's thought to fix it in five years?"

"These offices aren't used anymore so nobody really comes up here," Ferb replied. "I thought about fixing it several times, but my forte is inventions. I didn't want to mess the printer up even more than it already was. But can you fix it?"

"I'm trying," Cameron said amusedly. "But even though my forte is fixing things, I always have to take them completely apart first before I can fix it, so I can see how it works."

"Makes sense. So what do you think of B.O.W.C.A. so far?"

Cameron shrugged. "I don't form opinions. Opinions are just the government manipulating us into arguing over our differences 24/7 so that they can experiment on aliens and destroy any Earth-like planets in the galaxy without anyone catching on because we're all so obsessed with being right all the time that we don't pay attention to what's going on right under our noses, and since I plan on moving to an Earth-like planet as soon as NASA gives me permission and funding to build my rocket, I don't want anything to distract me from the government potentially blowing up my future home planet; since climate change and deforestation are eventually going to kill this planet, I'd rather have a better and more organised plan than screaming and panicking with the rest of humanity as they finally realise that their actions have killed the planet that they live on."

There was absolute silence for approximately thirty seconds.

"You don't have any friends, do you."

"Not one," Cameron confirmed. "But considering I literally made up all of that on the spot, I think that was pretty impressive."

Ferb chuckled. "It was."

"Thanks. Apart from engineering, improv was literally the only thing I enjoyed when I was younger. I was in an improv group from the age of six to the age of nineteen."

"Wow…the same improv group?"

"Yep." Cameron grinned. "My teachers either loved me or hated me."

"I can see why," Ferb said wryly. "So what DO you think of B.O.W.C.A.?"

Cameron shrugged again. "I haven't really had time to form an opinion yet. I guess my first impression is that it's a friendly place."

"It really is. Barely anyone here is related by blood, but it still feels like lots of little families have sprung up everywhere."

"I like places like that," Cameron said.

"So do I."

There was another pause.

"Who's B.O.W.C.A.'s top agent?"

"Esther van Dyke," Ferb replied immediately. "Although Zero is a close second. James Williams used to be third, but…not anymore."

Cameron found that curious, but he didn't question it. "Where are they right now?"

"Zero went out on a mission a while ago. Esther went home. And I saw James going out with your sister about an hour and a half ago."

"My sister? Natasha?" Cameron blinked. "Why?"

Ferb shrugged. "Is it a problem?"

"No, it-."

All of a sudden, Ruth Summers appears, a stern look on her face. "THERE you are! Ferb, Cameron, you're needed downstairs. Inspector Initials has called a meeting."

"Why?" asked Ferb, concerned. "What's happened?"

"I don't know. Just hurry."

…

Esther felt sick. And it definitely wasn't from her pregnancy. Robin and Gretchen were beside her, comforting her, but she couldn't be consoled.

"Where's James?" she asked miserably.

"We haven't seen him," replied Robin hesitantly.

"I hope he's okay…"

At that moment, Inspector Initials strode onto the stage. She addressed her assembled agents: agents of B.O.W.C.A., this is an emergency. Approximately thirty minutes ago, Agent Zero was reported missing in action, along with American O.W.C.A. agent Perry the Platypus. Now we have received a message from a source in the criminal underworld, saying that an attack on headquarters is imminent. We must evacuate immediately. Agents One through Five will lead the evacuation and make sure everyone gets out safely."

Since Robin was Agent Four, she headed off to obey Inspector Initials. Esther—Agent Seven—and Gretchen—who was technically not actually an agent—were left to make sure they got themselves out. After all, one of them had a young baby and the other was pregnant. It was imperative that they got out as soon as possible. Ferb came over as they were heading out, and the three of them made it out onto the lawn. Esther could barely walk; the stress was almost too much for her. Her husband was missing and her second home under threat of an attack.

AGAIN.


End file.
